Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars
This recipe for Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Cookies combines two favorite treats into one delicious bar! A cozy cinnamon swirl ripples through buttery, flaky shortbread that’s finished off with a drizzle of vanilla icing, making for one tasty twist on shortbread bars!
Shortbread Meets Cinnamon Rolls
This cinnamon roll-inspired recipe delivers everything you love about the classic breakfast treat but with a buttery, shortbread twist! In this recipe, we trade fluffy bread dough in for a firm, flaky buttery shortbread dough that pairs deliciously with a cinnamon swirl and vanilla icing.
A batch of these Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars make for the perfect snack or evening sweet treat. However, if you still want them for breakfast, I can guarantee that they also go well with your morning cup of coffee!
As with any Shortbread recipe, the secret to its success is found in the butter. Therefore, it’s key to use high-quality butter to reach that melt-in-your-mouth texture that we look for with shortbread.
So that’s exactly what we used in this recipe to ensure these Cinnamon Roll Bars came in at an elite level! Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Rebecca’s Recipe Review
Taste: Lightly sweet and butter shortbread stands in for fluffy bread dough in this cinnamon roll-inspired recipe rippled with a sweet brown sugar and cinnamon filling. Oh, and the vanilla icing adds a delicious finish.
Texture: Firm bars with a slightly gooey ripple of sugar.
Ease: 4/10
Pros: Easy to make and delicious flavor.
Cons: Don’t let the filling get all the way to the edge, or it could bake up hard. If it does, just trim the edges off the bars and you’re good to go!
Would I Make This Again? Yes, they are such a simple, crowd-pleasing treat!
Cinnamon Shortbread Ingredients
If you’ve tried my delicious Ted Lasso Recipe for Shortbread then you may recognize that this Cinnamon Shortbread recipe shares a similar base. This also means that you can fully trust that this is an EPIC cinnamon swirl shortbread recipe since my Ted Lasso recipe is out-of-this-world.
For the Shortbread dough you’ll need granulated sugar, vanilla bean paste, salt, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, and corn starch. Of course, you’ll also need the star of the show, butter! Since shortbread calls for so much butter it’s important to use a high-quality one to achieve the best flavor and texture.
I recommend using grass-fed butter such as Kirkland, Kerrygold, or Finlandia. Once the dough is prepared, we’ll then need the cinnamon swirl filling!
To make this we’ll need dark brown sugar, salted butter, ground cinnamon, corn starch, vanilla extract, and salt. This makes for the perfect cozy sweet swirl between the shortbread layers!
Once the bars have been cooled and cut, they’re finished off with a sweet drizzle of icing. This is made with powdered sugar, heavy cream, salted butter, and vanilla bean paste.
How To Make Shortbread Cookies With Cinnamon Swirl
- Line a metal baking pan with parchment paper and then set it aside.
- Cream salted butter with granulated sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl down half-way through mixing.
- Whisk together all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, corn starch, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture in three parts, mixing between each addition. The goal is to have the dough be mixed yet slightly crumbly.
- Press about 2/3 of the shortbread dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
- Prepare the filling by mixing dark brown sugar with salted butter, ground cinnamon, corn starch, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Spread the cinnamon filling over the top of the shortbread dough in the pan.
- Top the filling with the remaining shortbread dough, gently pressing it down to cover it. It’s ok if there are some gaps!
- Chill the shortbread in the fridge and then preheat the oven.
- Bake the Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars until the top and edges begin to turn golden brown. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool.
- Cool the shortbread completely before lifting it out of the pan. Afterward, use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into squares.
- Prepare the icing by whisking together powdered sugar, heavy cream, salted butter, and vanilla bean paste together.
- Drizzle the vanilla icing over the sliced shortbread bars and then allow them to set.
- Try not to spread the cinnamon filling all the way to the edge of the pan, or it could bake up to be hard. Not to worry if the filling accidentally makes its way to the edge, though, you can just trim the edges off with a knife!
- When lining the baking pan, be sure to allow the parchment paper to overhang the sides of the pan. These flaps will allow you to lift the entire batch of bars out of the pan to neatly slice them for serving.
- Please don’t skip the 30-minute chill time! It may sound short and unimportant, but this chill time creates flakey dough, giving this treat a melt-in-your-mouth texture!
- It’s important to allow the bars to completely cool to room temperature before lifting them out of the pan. If this is done before they’ve cooled, they could fall apart and crumble in the process.
- It’s best to remove the shortbread from the pan and slice it into squares before drizzling them with icing. This will prevent messy slicing and serving from the pan!
How To Prep Shortbread Cookie Bars In Advance
To prep Cinnamon Swirl Shortbread Bars ahead of time you can make the dough and then store it tightly in plastic wrap or an airtight container. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
When you’re ready to make the bars, prepare the cinnamon swirl mixture and assemble the bars in the pan according to the recipe instructions.
How To Store Shortbread
Once the drizzle of icing has firmed up on the shortbread bars, transfer the slices into an airtight container. If the storage container you’re using is deep, then I’d suggest separating the layers with parchment paper to prevent the bars from sticking to each other.
Keep the Shortbread Bars at room temperature to enjoy for up to a week.
For longer storage, you can wrap the shortbread dough in plastic wrap and again in aluminum foil and then store it in the freezer. The dough can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To make the Cinnamon Rolls Bars simply thaw the dough in the fridge overnight and then prepare the bars according to the recipe instructions.
More Shortbread Cookie Recipes
- Easy Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies – Cozied up with pantry staple spices!
- Shortbread Christmas Crack – Topped with chocolate, chopped pecans, and toffee bits!
- Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies – Finished off with a citrusy sweet lemon glaze!
- Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies – A sweet treat that’s perfect for the holidays!
- Shortbread (Ted Lasso Recipe) – Melt-in-your-mouth buttery shortbread!
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Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 2 cups salted butter 454g, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 cups all-purpose flour 650g, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar 45g
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch 18g
Filling
- 1¼ cup dark brown sugar 250g
- ½ cup salted butter 113g, softened
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Line a 9×13-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together 2 cups salted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste, and ½ teaspoon salt for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl about halfway through.
- In a separate, large mixing bowl, whisk together 5 cups all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and ½ teaspoon salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 parts, mixing between each addition just until incorporated. The dough will be mixed but slightly crumbly.
- Transfer about ⅔ of the dough to the prepared baking pan and press it evenly into the bottom of the pan.
- In a medium bowl, mix together 1¼ cup dark brown sugar, ½ cup salted butter, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract , and ¼ teaspoon salt until fully combined.
- Spread the cinnamon roll filling mixture out over the top of the shortbread dough, but don't spread it all the way to the edge; leave a border of about ¼ inch.
- Top with the remaining shortbread dough and gently press to cover; some gaps are perfectly fine!
- Chill the shortbread in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- With 15 minutes left of chilling, preheat the oven to 325°F.
- After chilling, bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the tops and edges of the shortbread should be just turning golden brown.
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool.
- Let the shortbread cool completely before lifting it out of the pan. Then use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into squares.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 1and 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste to create the icing.
- Drizzle the icing over the sliced shortbread bars and let set.
Video
Notes
- We tested this recipe with unsalted butter and salted butter and preferred salted. If using unsalted, add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the recipe.
- I highly recommend using grass-fed butter such as Kirkland, Kerrygold, or Finlandia.
Nutrition
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